SUMMER REPLAY: Fireside Chat: Establishing Your Planner Habit

Episode Transcript

[00:00:00] Joel: Welcome to Focus on This. We are on summer hiatus, so what you’re about to hear is from the vault.
[00:00:12] Marissa: But this vault is a good vault, and we don’t keep any junk in there.
[00:00:18] Joel: The truth is, some of these episodes are so stinking good, we can’t believe that they just, like, come down the conveyor belt and disappear.
[00:00:25] These are things that are worth revisiting, and so that’s what we decided to do with the summer. We’re gonna replay some of the best stuff from the vault. Uh, it’ll give you a chance to hear it maybe a second time, maybe even a first time. But regardless, you may be in a different season of life. You may have a different set of ears.
[00:00:42] These episodes are gonna be great for you.
[00:00:44] Marissa: Yeah, and the truth is, our best ideas don’t expire. A lot of what we talk about on the podcast, which maybe was recorded a few years ago, is still relevant today, and this stuff is good. We’ve really gone through and cherry-picked the best of the best. So we hope that you enjoy this episode.
[00:01:02] Joel: We’ll be back soon. Until then, we hope you enjoy.
[00:01:09] Blake: All right, Virbs, have you ever felt overwhelmed about trying something new?
[00:01:14] Verbs: Absolutely. Yeah. Um, I think normally this kind of falls within maybe something new that’s attached to some sort of financial consideration. Mm. ‘Cause- Mm-hmm … at that point- Mm-hmm … you just gotta, you can only go with what you know, and the rest is, feels a little bit risky.
[00:01:31] But at the same time, on the other side of that risk, there could be a great reward also. So I think those, those are the types of decisions that probably give me the most, uh, angst or potential anxiety in those, those moments. What about you guys? Hmm.
[00:01:45] Courtney: That, that makes a lot of sense. And as you were talking, actually, before we started this episode, I was saying, “Yeah, I, I love to try new things.
[00:01:52] I love it. Like, I’d, whatever. Like, let’s try. Let’s do it.” But actually, if I really dig down a little deeper, there are times that I feel a little unease. And, uh, specifically, I thought about instances where I go to a new gym for the first time or, like, try a new type of exercise like yoga. I remember the very first time I went to an actual yoga class, I was terrified.
[00:02:18] I, but, I mean, I had to kind of, like, work myself up to it. Like, it will be okay. Like, no one is going to kick you out mid-class. Like, they will let you stay. And there was a sense of like, you know, I, I felt a little overwhelmed by it, but I knew it was good for me. It was a good, um, process to move through.
[00:02:37] Blake: See, I have started doing yoga in the mornings. I won’t go near a public place where people can see me- … attempting that stuff. But I think it is, y- you know, there is that fear of comparison, right? Of well- Yeah … what will someone think about me, or am I doing a good enough job at this to even be doing this new thing?
[00:02:59] And if you’ve been trying something new or if you’ve been trying, for instance, to do something like the full focus planner, I talk to a lot of people who get the new plan- you know, they get a new planner, oh, it… But sometimes they can, this tool designed to relieve overwhelm, sometimes they can almost feel like they’re not doing good enough or they’re not using it to its fullest potential, and therefore they feel like they’re failing and overwhelmed by the thing that’s supposed to help them succeed and not be overwhelmed.
[00:03:27] And I think the trick is to not have a Blake not going to a yoga studio syndrome of comparison and competition, but to recognize, hey, this is, you can actually take a more collaborative approach and learn from people that have already been there and done that.
[00:03:47] Courtney: So what I hear you saying is we need to do some focus on this yoga together.
[00:03:54] Just kidding. No- Absolutely … let’s not.
[00:03:55] Blake: Let’s never do that. You have grossly misunderstood my intent. I can’t stress that enough. But today we want you listening to do some collaboration. We’re gonna do some collaboration here on the podcast. This is one of my favorite things, whenever we get to have somebody on, uh, who is a real life Full Focus-er, a Full Focus Planner user and advocate.
[00:04:21] Today, we have a special guest for you. We’re gonna introduce her and interview her, and she’s gonna be sharing with you really practical insights and tips. If you’ve been trying to use the Full Focus Planner, use this system, and really get the most out of it, but perhaps you felt a little intimidated, she’s gonna help you out a lot.
[00:04:42] Verbs: Sounds good, guys. Let’s get right to it
[00:04:50] Welcome to another episode of Focus on This, the most productive podcast on the internet so you can banish distractions, get the right stuff done, and finally start loving Mondays. I’m Verbs here with Courtney Baker and Blake Stratton with a special guest in the house as well. But first of all, happy Monday to everyone.
[00:05:10] Blake: Happy Monday to you, Verbs, and let’s introduce- Thank you very much … our, let’s introduce our guest. The, today we have joining us on the podcast all the way from Kimberly, Idaho, it is Julie Underwood. Hello, Julie. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:05:28] Julie Underwood: Hi. Thanks for having me.
[00:05:30] Blake: Yeah. And I, I had to be educated when Julie came on that, uh, I was told Kim- Kimberly, Idaho was actually the other alter ego Miley Cyrus had once upon a time.
[00:05:42] And I, she corrected me on that. It’s a location, it’s a town, there’s people in it. But-
[00:05:46] Julie Underwood: Very few …
[00:05:47] Blake: yeah. G- It’s a small
[00:05:48] Julie Underwood: town.
[00:05:50] Courtney: Well, now I’m like everybody that doesn’t understand the reference to Hannah Montana is totally not gonna get that joke. So I’m just gonna let y’all
[00:05:57] Blake: know. Yeah, that was deep. That was deep.
[00:05:57] But That was deep. Ex- that one’s extra dry. Extra dry.
[00:06:02] Courtney: Extra dry. Like, maybe if you are between the ages of 34 and 38, um, you may have gotten that one, so- … you know.
[00:06:12] Blake: Extra dry and half as funny. That’s kind of my new brand.
[00:06:17] Courtney: Well, Julie, we’re so excited to have you today. Um, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?
[00:06:24] You know, what do you do, um, and how long have you been using the Full Focus Planner?
[00:06:30] Julie Underwood: Well, I’ve recently changed what I do. I have been a public school teacher for the last 19 years, but in, last May, I retired, woot woot, kind of- All right … to start my own business, to start a leadership development business.
[00:06:43] So, um- Awesome … a lot of that is inspired by my planner use. I started using the planner, I had to look back and see, but I had, I started in the summer of 2019. And the first planner, I set it up all wrong, ’cause I set, set it up as a quarter June, July, August, instead of July, August, September, ’cause I was on my teacher calendar.
[00:07:04] So it had to spill over a little bit into September, the first one. But that’s when I started using the planner.
[00:07:09] Courtney: That’s awesome. That’s… Oh, listen, we love school teachers, um, on this podcast. I feel like we have, our Venn diagram has a large section of school teachers, um, that love the Focus on This podcast, um, and, uh, more than that, the Full Focus Planner.
[00:07:28] So, um, I think for everybody that’s an educator out there listening, this is gonna be really fun, but also for entrepreneurs.
[00:07:40] Tell us a little bit about how you got started. Y- you know, I heard you say, you know, when you look back, it wasn’t set up exactly the way that you may have set it up today. But what was it like when you got started originally?
[00:07:54] Julie Underwood: Well, originally, I, I think I just started very small. I started by using the daily pages.
[00:08:00] You know, I just started with that because the concept… I, I knew a lot about the philosophy behind the planner before I got one and started using it. Um, ’cause at first, as an educator, I really felt like, you know, so much of our day is set. It’s like there’s a big, huge chunk that’s like, “You’re teaching.
[00:08:15] That’s all you’re doing.” And so, so I felt like I don’t know how much this is gonna help me. But when I got it, it, it… Well, learning the philosophies through this podcast and the Lead to Win podcast, which is where I started hearing about the planner, just changed the way I thought about work. Hmm. And was so, um, enlightening as far as how you can design the life you want, and that your personal life is part of your work life.
[00:08:40] Joel: Sure.
[00:08:40] Julie Underwood: And so I started small. I started using the daily pages, and then I evolved to use more and more of the planner as I went along. But even when I just started identifying a big three for myself-
[00:08:52] Joel: Hmm …
[00:08:52] Julie Underwood: I felt like I was living so much more intentionally and designing the life that I wanted for myself instead of just, you know, being victimized by my work.
[00:09:01] Right. Just going to work and working forever.
[00:09:04] Verbs: Julie, can I ask, um, like as you mentioned, you said, “Hey, what… Because my time is spoken for as I teach for a greater part of the day,” what was kind of just the breakthrough thought that you had when you got the planner and you realized, “Oh, I can use this for a whole lot more than I originally thought”?
[00:09:20] Like, what was it that you felt like you were missing in regards to planning materials or planning devices or planning tools, that once you got that planner in front of you, said, “Oh, there’s more opportunity here”?
[00:09:30] Julie Underwood: I think just feeling empowered to design my day, and that my day didn’t have to just be work.
[00:09:37] Yeah. That it was okay to have part of my big three be something personally I wanted to achieve, like a physical fitness goal or, you know, um, helping other people. I loved when I eventually started using, a year or so later, the weekly preview. Um, you know, I love that part about connecting. I thought, “That’s valuable, and I can do that when I’m at school i- if I think about it, if I’m intentional about it.”
[00:10:01] So I, that’s what I really loved, is I felt so empowered that I could shape what was going on. Even though a lot of my day was scheduled, I could still make my day meaningful, and it just changed my paradigm for how I thought about work and how, how rewarded I was and how much I enjoyed it, ’cause I was kinda burning out.
[00:10:20] Yeah. And the planner really helped me with that.
[00:10:22] Courtney: Julie, I think what you said about intentionality is so important. I think that is something that isn’t always intuitive for planner users, but as you kinda look back it’s like, “Oh, yeah, really what this is helping me do is just be intentional about my time, intentional about my days and my hours,” you know?
[00:10:41] And I think that’s- Really the, the superpower of the planner. So I just love that you use that word. So I know, Julie, when we originally reached out to you about potentially being on the podcast, you sent us a huge list of things that you have accomplished, and so I just would love for you to share that with everybody.
[00:11:00] I think that’s… I, I mean, it gets me encouraged to hear other people doing big things, um, when they are using these resources. Um, and I think everybody listening will kinda get some extra oomph, uh, today, um, hearing that from you.
[00:11:13] Julie Underwood: Well, like I said, I started using it in 2019, and at the end of, um, 2020, I decided to, you know, it was a rough year for everybody, and especially I think educators, and I decided to take Michael Hyatt up on his, um, Best Year Ever program.
[00:11:31] And so I participated in the Best Year Ever, and ’21 has been the best year ever for me. I mean, I, I just feel like it worked as… ‘Cause I sat down and was so intentional about goal setting. And so this year I have, um, I started running, actually, the first year that I was using the planner, ’cause I could put some physical fitness goals in there and be intentional.
[00:11:54] And so I started running, which is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I thought, “Oh, I’m too late to this,” but I felt really empowered that if I just chunk it and I start slow and do it consistently, I’ll see consistent results. ‘Cause you guys talk about consistent results all the time, and small steps.
[00:12:08] You talk about baby steps. And so I put that in place, started running. So as part of the Best Year Ever, I said, “I’m gonna do a half-marathon.” And, and I just followed the plan and did my goal, and in September 18th of 2021, I ran, I finished a half-marathon, and that was my goal. My stats were not ideal, but I finished.
[00:12:27] Woo. Nice. And I’d also had some other things on the back burner. Um, I had been really interested in certifying to be a John Maxwell certified leadership trainer, and so I had been working on that, but the planner helped me be really intentional about the curriculum and feeling like I could get that done.
[00:12:44] So in August of ’21, I certified. I went to the, um, IMC is what they call it, the International Maxwell Event, and I certified in that, and that’s part of launching my new business. Just, you know, a number of things that I’ve achieved that I feel really great about that the planner has enabled me to do. And I feel like my life runs the way I want it to, and I, and I’m accomplishing those things.
[00:13:06] I, I’m, I retired. I decided that I could retire. Um, I deci- I could afford to do that, and I could risk doing that. And then I, you know, could s- get started on my business that I wanna do. So all of those things have been, you know, part of the empowerment of the planner, and the structure that it brings to every day, that you do maximize the hours of your life to be and do the, the things you wanna do, and be the person that you wanna be.
[00:13:31] And it’s really helped me see and do that.
[00:13:34] Blake: That’s amazing. Well done.
[00:13:36] Courtney: Well, I, I just wanna say for the audio, w- Julie, when you were sharing those wins, we were all like, “Yes!” I mean, that is huge. I mean, I… Guys, I try to run marathons every once in a while, and then I’m like, I get like four miles in, I’m like, yeah, I don’t think my body is made for doing this.
[00:13:52] It just starts falling apart. Julie, that is a huge deal. Like, I am so proud of you, and I, I, I just wanted everybody to hear how we were celebrating you- … um, in that moment. That is, that is something… That is a really amazing year. It sounds for sure like, uh, the best year ever.
[00:14:11] Julie Underwood: It really has been. And doing the half was just, like…
[00:14:14] ‘Cause I, I didn’t even start running till I was in my 50s, and I thought- Hmm … you know, “How can I do this?” And then just doing it incrementally and making a plan and following the plan made all the difference. So it’s really been amazing. It’s been great. I’m back to walking now, though, FYI. That’s
[00:14:32] Blake: very Bravo.
[00:14:33] You mentioned- Bravo,
[00:14:33] Verbs: Julie. Yeah …
[00:14:35] Blake: uh, Julie, at the top of the episode, we were talking about trying new things and some, some of the hesitation or the comparison or the overwhelm that can happen when we engage in, in something new, a new initiative, or in this case, a, a new planner that’s this whole system.
[00:14:54] You mentioned, you know, starting with just daily pages, but I’m wondering if you can remember what was the experience like getting started? What was… Were there challenges or things that you, you know, to on-ramp, I guess, into this new way of planning or doing things that you could speak to?
[00:15:11] Julie Underwood: Well, I definitely did the comparison thing and, you know, worried that I wasn’t utilizing enough of the planner and, you know.
[00:15:18] And then, but it seems like episode by episode, ’cause I, I religiously listen to this podcast, you guys, and you do encourage me so much. And, you know, you would do something on another feature, like the index, you know, and I’m like, “There’s an index?” You know? So, so then I actually have planners where I’ve utilized the index and, you know, a- and just different things, ’cause you’d approach it from what it would do for me.
[00:15:41] Uh, like for teachers, I know the Sunday scaries are so real. And, you know, just the overwhelm starts Sunday night and just, you know, close to a panic attack with so much stuff to do, and so many kids to manage, and so many responsibilities. I mean, I had, at one point in my career, I had, I had four preps in two different buildings.
[00:16:03] At one, I had even six at one point, different courses that I had to be ready for, with grades from 6 to 12. Hmm. So it was crazy. Kimberly’s a small town. You know, and the overwhelm starts. And so when you talked about the weekly preview and you said, you know, this is a way to get that under control, and by the way, that is my favorite feature of the planner is the weekly preview now.
[00:16:25] It is just my favorite thing. Mm-hmm. Because it just puts me at the helm of my week, and it just says, “Okay, what am I gonna do this week, and how am I gonna be the person I wanna be and live this out in all of these different areas?” And so that’s been good. But getting started is scary, and you compare a lot.
[00:16:43] Um, I have a funny story ’cause I felt like I was getting ready to do a training with some teachers, ’cause I do some teacher training, and I always mention you guys. So I always mention, I actually have pictures of the podcast with the three of you, and I have the, the, um, Lead to Win podcast ’cause I, when I talk about my success or success for teachers, I have to talk about those things.
[00:17:05] And so I was, I was getting ready to do a training with teachers, and I thought, “You know, maybe I just drank the Kool-Aid, and I listen to these podcasts so much that I’m the only one… That it just affects me this way.” So I tested it on my daughter-in-law, and I gave her a planner, ’cause I’d had an extra one from changing or something.
[00:17:22] And I gave her a planner, and I said, “Just try it out. See what you think.”
[00:17:27] Joel: Mm-hmm.
[00:17:27] Julie Underwood: And that was it. You know, I showed, I showed her the daily pages, and I said, “You know, this is how I started.” I said, “There’s a lot to it, and it’s kind of goal staging and everything.” But I said, “Just give it a try, see what you think.”
[00:17:36] Well, a couple days later, she’s like, “I don’t know if it’s…” She’s, she’s a clinical psychologist with a PhD. And she said, “I don’t know if it’s the placebo effect,” but she says, “I actually did twice as many reports today as I normally do.” She said, “So it’s, I think it’s helping me.” Wow. I said, “Well, that’s great,” you know?
[00:17:53] Mm-hmm. And I tried not to influence her too much, ’cause she was my control group. I was like, “Okay.” And about two weeks later, she said… I said, “How’s it going? You know, how’s your planner stuff going?” She goes, “It’s changed my life.” Quote-unquote, “It’s changed my life.” I was like, “Okay, it’s not just me. This is good.”
[00:18:09] That’s awesome. So I felt like that was a great testimonial. But she’s, she’s now all in. She’s teaching me about erasable pens. She’s on the Facebook group way more than I am. And she is really into it.
[00:18:19] Blake: Yeah, that’s not the placebo effect. We call that the Verb’s effect. You hear-
[00:18:23] Julie Underwood: The Verb’s effect. I’ll have to
[00:18:25] Blake: let him know.
[00:18:25] Yeah, you hear, you know, some… I can talk about goals let u- all day long, but when Verb says, “Smarter goals,” you go, “Yeah.” Yeah. “That’s what’s missing in my life.”
[00:18:35] Verbs: Blake, that’s actually a interesting segue ’cause I did wanna ask this question. Um, ’cause a lot of people coming into the planner, especially when they’re getting accustomed to how to set their annual goals, they struggle a little bit with just the concept of really framing a smarter goal.
[00:18:51] But how did setting a smarter goal feel different for you than just making, you know, a New Year’s resolution of some sort?
[00:18:59] Julie Underwood: Well, New Year’s resolutions never work, first of all. And so in, in the- Facts, yes … even just the SMART goal without the, you know, ER that you guys add- Mm … just having it time-bound, but then knowing that you can go back and adjust.
[00:19:13] Like, there were weeks in my, you know, half marathon training that I didn’t get to run when I was supposed to and for how long I was supposed to because we were out of town or we were in the car or something happened.
[00:19:23] Joel: Mm-hmm.
[00:19:23] Julie Underwood: And if that had been a New Year’s resolution, I’d have said, “Well, eh, I didn’t make it.
[00:19:28] I’m quitting.” You know? But because it was a goal and I knew how to kind of go back and reassess and adjust, and I felt like I, you know, have the philosophy from listening to the way you use the planner, that it’s okay to adapt your goals to what’s happening in your life. It’s okay to tweak it and then get back to it.
[00:19:47] So it seems more like an ongoing process instead of just a, you know, you win or you lose.
[00:19:53] Verbs: Right.
[00:20:08] Courtney: So Julie, you mentioned, um, at the beginning that you started using the planner, and then about a year later you went through our goal-setting course, Your Best Year Ever, which it’s, it’s about that time of year where we’re launching that course again. So I would love for you to talk through maybe how Best Year Ever helped, you know, elevate your goal setting for the next year.
[00:20:31] Uh, uh, for those of you that are listening, Your Best Year Ever is really the, um, philosophy that the planner’s built on. So we released that course long before we created the planner. And, and so I would love for you to talk about that. Like how did Your Best Year Ever help you with your goal setting?
[00:20:50] Julie Underwood: Well, it just really made me intentional about goal setting, and I understood, you know, I love how… This is one of my favorite features of the planner too, is how the goals, in the goals section, it talks about your motivation. You know, what motivates you to go after this goal? ‘Cause when you think about goals, it’s bigger than just, “Oh, I’d like to run,” you know, “I’d like to start running.”
[00:21:10] I mean, I realized I had this real emotional, you know, thing about being able to be a runner, you know, be def- define myself as a runner for, you know, to achieve something like that. And, and so when you understand the motivation, then it helps you when you’re lagging. You know, when it’s like, “Ugh, you know, the last thing I wanna do is put on those shoes again and go out and do another five or six miles.
[00:21:32] I’m tired,” you know? “I’ve got better stuff to do, other stuff to do.” But it’s like, you know, this is part of the person I wanna be. This is part of the, you know, overall… And by knowing that motivation and being able… And I’m not good about going back and looking at them physically all the time. I’m still working on that.
[00:21:48] But for me, I did it once, I got it in my head, and I kind of understood, this is why I wanna do this. And so when your, you know, discipline lags in, in the messy middle, you just kinda can pick it up and say, “Okay, I got this. I’m gonna move forward and keep going.” So I- that’s how it’s helped me. And just being really intentional about looking at your life as, what’s this year gonna look like?
[00:22:11] And just giving yourself that day to really sit and reflect and think, I think that’s what made all the difference. I, I know I need more thinking time now. All the time.
[00:22:21] Verbs: So Julie, at first you mentioned there was a little bit of overwhelm starting off the planner just because there’s multiple parts to it as well, and a lot of people do feel like that.
[00:22:29] But what could you offer, what sort of advice could you give to someone who’s starting the planner for the first time? And then now, kind of being further along in your planner journey, there’s people that are a year into it, um, and still have some challenges. What could you say to those folks as well to get them some motivation to keep going?
[00:22:46] Julie Underwood: Well, for the beginner user, I think just, just start with the daily pages, and you’ll start to see results and you’ll feel more in control. And then I think it kind of naturally flows out of feeling that to say, “Okay, what is this weekly preview thing?” You know, “What’s going on with that?” And then you expand out kind of organically with how you use it.
[00:23:06] Um, and once I started doing the weekly preview, so many of the other things made sense.
[00:23:12] Verbs: Hmm.
[00:23:13] Julie Underwood: To a user who’s been doing it for about a year, I think that’s when I shifted my focus to kind of the goal structure. Uh, and I still don’t have this all down, but that the goal structure starts with, you know, your annual goals, and then you have quarterly goals, and then you have, you know, your weekly goals, your weekly big three, and then your daily goals, and that it’s supposed to kind of stack that way.
[00:23:36] And I know that as I… ‘Cause starting with just the pages, mine kind of went in reverse and wasn’t as well thought out. But doing the Best Year Ever class made me really intentional about seeing that holistic structure. Okay, here’s the year in view. Here’s each quarter, ’cause it had you identify what quarter you’d, you’d do those in.
[00:23:55] And I think setting it up by quarters is another way it’s better than y- you know, doing a New Year’s resolution. Right. Because you say, “Okay, I can do this much in this timeframe and this much in that timeframe.” So I would say for a, a user who’s been, you know, is comfortable with the daily pages and some of the other things, that it’s time to kind of look back at that goal structure and start expanding that, because that really helps you have more control.
[00:24:18] And then you’ll start using it for all kinds of things, like notes. I still feel like I, I, I feel like it’s, it’s really analogous to how I use my iPhone. Hmm. There’s a lot more I could do with it, but it makes my life a lot better. There’s lots of great things about it that make my life better, but I know I could access more, and I’m not there yet.
[00:24:35] And I think that’s how you have to feel. You just have to keep learning more, and as you’re, as you see it working, you’re like, “Oh, I can do that with my phone?” I, I come up with stuff all the time. I’m like, “Oh, I could track that in my planner. If I put that in my planner, I’d have it with me every day.” Like the pocket in the back, too, is something that’s like- There you go
[00:24:51] underutilized at first, you know? You’re just like, “Oh, I could put stuff in there. Hey, I could have something I really needed,” or remember, have a doctor’s appointment card in there and know what’s going on. So keep expanding how you use it and the features you use.
[00:25:10] Verbs: All right, Julie, what has the Full Focus system provided you besides just accomplishing a bunch of goals? I know you mentioned earlier that, you know, you had a whole slew of things that you fought to do, and you saw opportunity even after you re- you retired and really started digging into this system.
[00:25:26] But what are some of the things outside of just accomplishing goals have you really felt motivated by in this system?
[00:25:33] Julie Underwood: That’s really a great question because a lot of people ask me, you know, “What’s so great about this planner?” ‘Cause I, I, you know, I’m constantly gushing about how great the planner is, and peop- and, you know, the fact that the one podcast I listen to religiously is about a planner, I feel like I’m kind of a nerd.
[00:25:48] You know? I’m like, I don’t know. So I told my husband, I said, “Well, it’s not a planner.” He said, “I thought you said it was a planner.” I said, “No, it’s more than a planner. It’s a way of thinking about your life.”
[00:25:58] Courtney: Hmm.
[00:25:59] Julie Underwood: And so it’s more than goals. It’s more than just crossing things off or replacing your to-do list.
[00:26:06] For me, it has been just, uh, it’s changed my life, in the words of my daughter-in-law. It transforms your thinking about who you are and who you can be, and it puts the power back in your hands. You’re not just an employee. You’re not just a teacher slogging through my, you know, 90-minute class periods for seven periods a day and then doing whatever they make me do.
[00:26:29] I can be the person I wanna be in any job, wherever I work, and it’s based on my perception of myself and bringing my personal life in line with my work life and defining the win every day and defining success for me for that year, for that quarter, for that month, for that week. And when you define your own success, that’s truly, you know, being sig- living a life of significance, and that’s what we all want.
[00:26:59] Courtney: Julie, I’m feeling like a spinoff podcast is in the works right now. Nick, you working on it? That, that’s incredible.
[00:27:08] Julie Underwood: Well, I, I really appreciate what you guys do, and it has really, it has helped me, and it has helped, you know, the people that I’ve turned onto it. And I know I’ve gotten some teachers buying the planner ’cause at my, end of my training they’re like, “Where do I go to get that?
[00:27:19] Where do I go to get it?” Which is why I’m really excited to become a certified pro, so I’m doing that- All right … this month. So I’m super excited about that because I feel like I can’t help people the way I wanna help people in my new job with my new business without being able to legitimately, really, you know, say, “You gotta get this planner, and here’s how the system works.
[00:27:40] You gotta think like this and live like this, ’cause it’ll change you.”
[00:27:43] Courtney: That is really exciting. I’m, I’m… You’re, like, the perfect person to be a cert- You already were a Full Focus Planner Certified Pro. You just didn’t have the official, like, stamp. Um, and so I’m, I’m so excited that you’re gonna be doing that.
[00:27:59] I would like to officially ask you to be my certified pro.
[00:28:04] Nick: I just need to pop in here and say that Julie and I scheduled this interview before the announcement of the certified profess- pro pl- you know, and she… I was like, “I wonder if she’s gonna do it,” and she did. So that’s, Julie’s all in. This isn’t like- I am
[00:28:18] we found a pro and then brought her on the show. This, this is a sincere thing.
[00:28:23] Julie Underwood: I do. I just share, you know, because it’s part of, you know, when you’re talking about how to help people, you know, feel differently about their work and their life and success, yeah, I have to talk about the planner.
[00:28:34] Courtney: Well, and I feel like for everybody listening, we should probably say what Full Focus Planner Certified Pro is, just in case you’ve missed it in the last couple of weeks.
[00:28:41] Um, we have a new training program so you can actually get certified, um, to train other people on the Full Focus Planner, and there’s a, a training day that you’ll go through and then a certification test. Um, and then once people pass that test, they’re gonna be listed on our site in a directory so you can find, um, Full Focus Planner Certified Pros.
[00:29:04] But if you’re interested in being a pro, um, there are lots of things that you’re gonna get, es- especially this initial year. So if you’re interested in that at all, definitely check it out at fullfocusplanner.com/certified.
[00:29:21] Blake: Well, thank you, Julie, so much for joining us on the podcast today, and thank you listening for being with us on a Monday morning. We hope you have an amazing week. This is, as, as Julie would say, th- these are not my words, the most productive podcast on the internet, right, Julie?
[00:29:37] Julie Underwood: Yes,
[00:29:37] Blake: absolutely. So share, so share it with your friends, and, uh, don’t forget to join our Full Focus Planner community on the Facebook, the Metaverse, and we will be here next week with another great episode.
[00:29:52] But until then, my friends.
[00:29:54] Julie Underwood: Stay focused. Stay focused.
[00:29:57] Blake: There we go